MANCHESTER UNITED legend Denis Irwin has warned Luke Shaw that he faces a fight to win over Jose Mourinho and nail down the left back position in his team.

Denis Irwin: Luke Shaw faces a fight to win over Jose Mourinho at Man United

Former Manchester United defender Irwin says that competition for Shaw’s position is more intense than any other place in the team because Jose Mourinho has a choice of Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo, Matteo Darmian and Shaw.

Shaw, bought for £28m from Southampton in the summer of 2014, has started only four games – none of them in the Premier League – since October and was not even on the bench for the League Cup final on Sunday.

Irwin says it has not been easy for Shaw to come back from the horrific leg fracture that wrecked last season for him but says the 21-year-old still has plenty of time on his side.

He said: “He's only a young lad and he's come back from a horrendous injury. I think you have to be in that position [of recovering from a serious injury] to assess that.

“I was fortunate enough not to pick up any injuries as severe as Luke got but it can't be easy. He's only a young lad and he's got a vastly experienced manager there, a lot of experienced players there that he can talk to. He just needs to keep going and work hard.

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Luke Shaw has struggled to regain his starting position at left-back this season

“It's been a bit of a battle this year to play at left-back. Darmian has played quite a few games there, Blind has been very, very good at left-back, very consistent, and Rojo played in the final on Sunday – so there's a lot of competition there for Luke.

“All he can do is get his head down, work as hard as possible to impress the manager. He's only young so he's got time on his side.

“You've seen the talent's there. The first couple of months last season before he broke his leg was fantastic. It's up to the manager to decide when he wants to throw him in there.

“It's very competitive in there. We've got a squad, probably 22-24 internationals, and they can all play. He's got to compete with that. Every game on the run-in is very very important. It's up to the manager if he does play Luke when to throw him in, that's his decision.

“Darmian played left-back for quite a while when we started tightening up defensively, Daley has been fantastic whenever he's played there. It looks like the position that's the most open in the team at the moment. I think everybody will be given an opportunity though with the amount of games coming up.”

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Luke Shaw has failed to convince Jose Mourinho he deserves a starting spot at Man United

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Historically, United’s left back position has never changed hands as much as it has over the last three years. Irwin played over 500 games for United – mainly in that position - throughout the 1990s, and Patrice Evra played over 300 from 2005 to 2014. Back in the late 1970s and 1980s Arthur Albiston clocked up over 400 games.

Irwin added: “That's the way it works out. Arthur Albiston was there for a long, long time before me. Then Patrice was there for nine, 10 years. It's just the nature of the beast.

"It's a position that's fairly open in the team and it's up to each position who comes in to play as best as they can, simple as.

“Rojo has played a lot of games at centre-half, Daley's played at centre-half, can play midfield, left-back as well. Darmian's more comfortable in the right-back position.

“You could say Luke is the only natural left-back but Daley, for me, has been very consistent when he's played left-back. Luke is just going to have to get his head down and battle away."